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| A Watch Tower |
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hand of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
The other day, before Mass, I set my telephone to buzz silently, lest it should disturb the assembly. The next morning, I used the same device to time my thirty-minute meditation, forgetting that it was set on silent. What I like to do is set the timer and sit before God, trusting the timer will go off and let me know when I have to get up and go about my chores.
On this particular day, I found from the outset my body was impatient and my mind, irresolute; so I was prepared to wait it out. And I waited and waited; and then I waited some more. “I did set that alarm, didn’t I?” I was sure I had. “I am really impatient this morning; it seems like an awfully long time! Never mind, I will not judge myself or my impatience. Thank you Lord for this time to love you.” and so on -- and on -- and on. Finally I stirred out of my meditation and checked the alarm; it had been buzzing silently for twenty minutes. I had a fifty minute meditation and was running late! This was another of the Lord's practical jokes on me.
I was reminded that we are creatures who wait. It may be the most important work we do, and the most difficult. I watch our Veterans waiting patiently, and sometimes I remind them they are patients. They must be patient with the technicians who draw their blood, the nurses who handle them with TLC, and the doctors who visit occasionally and never stay very long. Waiting impatiently for all these services, patients sometimes forget they are actually waiting to heal -- which seems to take forever. And, of course, some of them wait for Sister Death, and even that requires a certain kind of patience.
As we wait God comes to us with reassurances and promises: “I am with you until the end of time.” and “I will be your God and you shall be my people.”
The Christian religion stands head and shoulders above all others because it recognizes this fundamental fact about human existence: God has promised great things to us and we must wait for those promises to be fulfilled. We must be absorbed by this waiting even as God Himself waits for the moment when "the fulfillment of time" arrives.
Christmas reminds us of the particular promises God made to his beloved Jewish people, promises faithfully recorded though partially understood, in the Hebrew Scriptures. We have seen the promise of a Messiah fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He is a Messiah far beyond anything we could have expected. As one writer put it, he is the Taj Mahal when we expected nothing more than pothole repair. We looked for a human savior, we did not dream God himself would come to deliver us.
Can we imagine what the fulfillment of all human longing, his Second Coming, will be like? Not even remotely. Saint Paul said it best, "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, what God has ready for those who love him."
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.